


A Beat-Up Ford Mustang And, Like, Ten Cassette Tapes

by SirFangirl



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Earth, F/M, One Shot, Starmora, Starmora AU, everyone is human, gamora and peter make each other Soft™, gamora hates her dad, gamora is crime-lord thanos's daughter, peter and gamora run away together because they really do love each other, peter and mantis are half-siblings, peter is cheesy and gamora loves it, peter was a gang member
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 07:43:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14911232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirFangirl/pseuds/SirFangirl
Summary: "You still haven't seen Cheers or Friends.""Haven't had the time.""Well, you will now. We just need to find a place with a TV."An Earth AU in the 90s where Peter and Gamora are running away together.





	A Beat-Up Ford Mustang And, Like, Ten Cassette Tapes

_New York City, 1999_

"Southern nights..." Peter sings quietly, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song. He and his blue Ford sit in a cul-de-sac in suburban New York City. This place isn't Peter's style, unless he was stealing with the Ravagers, but he doesn't plan on being here for very long. Peter stops his anxious looking out the passenger window to change the song. "Southern Nights" doesn't feel like a fitting song for when you're waiting on your sort-of girlfriend to leave her house so you can run away with her. Then again, neither does "She Blinded Me with Science," but the song does distract Peter from his anxiety about possibly getting killed by Gamora's father. 

"She's poetry in motion," he sings as he puts away "Awesome Mix Volume 2." He taps his fingers again as he thinks through where he and Gamora could go next. They are definitely not going to the Ravagers; Gamora's not the only one running away from someone. Their friends Rocket and Groot are in Canada working on something, and they keep their hideout on serious lockdown when they are gone. Drax would let Peter and Gamora stay, but his apartment's already crowded with his wife, daughter, and Peter's half-sister (long story). Also, staying with Drax would put a huge target on Drax and his family, and Peter and Gamora don't want to risk that. 

Peter stops thinking when he hears the sound of shouting coming from Gamora's house. He turns down the music and rolls down the window further to listen. He hopes none of the neighbors can hear what's happening. He wants to go in and help, but Gamora specifically told him to stay in the car no matter what. However, that becomes hard for Peter to do when he hears the sound of glass breaking and sees the now-broken window on the front of the house. Peter scrambles for the gun he has stashed in the center console, and when he grabs it, he hears a door open. Peter looks up and sees Gamora marching out of the house. She looks understandably pissed, and the same could be said of her crime lord father, who stands in the doorway with an angry shade of purple-red on his face. Gamora's sister, Nebula, stands behind Thanos, watching the drama unfold. Peter puts the gun away when Gamora gets close to the car. 

"Hey, babe," Peter greets when Gamora gets in the car. 

"Let's go." 

"Okay." Peter puts the car in drive and presses the pedal. The tires squeal as the car takes off, leaving behind the cul-de-sac and Thanos's purple face. 

* * *

They make a stop at a cliff overlooking the Hudson River after having gotten food at McDonald's. Peter and Gamora sit on the hood of the car, eating their food that Gamora paid for and watching the river. Gamora changed the tape in the radio to "Awesome Mix Volume 1" just so she could hear "Fooled Around And Fell In Love" play through the Ford's open windows. Peter watches her expression, which is nostalgic yet forlorn. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." 

Peter looks back out to the river, unsure of what to say. He knows something's up with Gamora, but he doesn't know how he can get her to say what it is. "You know, if you don't want to do this-"

"No, I do. Besides, I can't really go back at this point." 

"Right." 

Gamora glances at Peter, "Do you remember when we danced to this song?" 

Peter chuckles, "How could I forget? You accused me of pelvic sorcery." 

Gamora's nose crinkles as a result of holding back a goofy grin, something that Peter finds adorable. "Well, you did have a reputation for using pelvic sorcery." 

"Yeah, but nobody calls it that."

"I was flustered; I didn't know what to say." 

"Flustered? Because you had feelings for me?" Peter teases, leaning towards Gamora. His teasing earns him another crinkle of Gamora's nose, and he feels his heart skip a beat. 

"Maybe, what with the unspoken thing and all" Gamora teases back, grabbing a french fry and eating it. 

"Like Sam and Diane - or maybe it's Ross and Rachel now?" Peter leans back before he realizes something, "You still haven't seen  _Cheers_ or  _Friends_."

"Haven't had the time." 

"Well, you will now. We just need to find a place with a TV." 

"We need a place." 

"Yeah, that too," Peter says, his excitement waning in the face of reality as he thinks of a place they could stay.

"Eight-nine-P-one-three," Gamora says after a few seconds of silence. 

"What?" 

"That's the access code to Rocket and Groot's hideout. I called them before I left. They said we could stay there as long as we don't make a mess." 

"Like their place isn't already a mess?" 

Gamora chuckles, "I think they just don't want us to mess with their stuff." 

"Yeah," Peter looks to Gamora, "You're amazing; you got us a place to stay and food to eat." 

"It really wasn't that hard." 

"Well, yeah, but I was worried I was gonna mess this up for you because I just have a beat-up Ford Mustang and, like, ten cassette tapes."

"I didn't think you were gonna mess this up. You're the one getting us to Rocket's, after all."

"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome." Gamora looks down at Peter. Peter's seen a lot of beautiful girls throughout his life, but Gamora beats them all with an effortless turn of the head. "What?" Gamora asks in response to Peter's staring. 

"Nothing, except that you're the most beautiful woman in the world." 

Gamora snickers bashfully, her nose crinkling again, "That's not possible."

"Yes, it is. I know because you exist."

"Stop," Gamora says while chuckling, "You're so cheesy."

"It makes you laugh, though," Peter points out.

"It does," Gamora admits, looking back to Peter. They stay like that for a while, staring into each other's eyes like they're works of art in the Louvre. "I love you, more than anything," Gamora says softly, like it's a secret and her father is nearby. To Peter, however, her confession is the loudest sound in the world, and he's happy to hear it. 

"I love you, too," Peter says, quickly sitting up to kiss Gamora. They might be runaways with the biggest crime lord in New York City on their backs now, but if that means having more moments like this, then it doesn't matter to Peter and Gamora. 

 


End file.
